BBC taken off air in Pakistan by cable operators

[You can see Secret Pakistan at YouTube. I have watched most of it and it is a typical BBC hit piece, done to smear Pakistan as being to blame for everything America has done wrong in Afghanistan. Part II is more chest-thumping over the alleged “bin Laden raid.” BBC and Reuters always handle the character assassination work for the Empire. This is nothing new. It is good to see them lose their foothold in Pakistan.]

The All Pakistan Cable Operators Association (APCOA), a body of cable tv operators, held a press briefing in Lahore where they demanded the country’s primary electronic media regulator, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to revoke landing rights to BBC.

APCOA chairman, Kamran Arain said “we want to send them a strong message to stop this. If they don’t stop this, then it is our right to stop them,” referring to pulling the channel off from their cable networks.

The operators say that the move is in response to a documentary broadcast by the channel, entitled Secret Pakistan.

Other foreign TV channels found guilty of broadcasting “anti-Pakistan” content will also be blocked, they threatened.

The BBC said it was deeply concerned by the move, and called for its channel to be speedily reinstated.

A two-part BBC documentary, “Secret Pakistan“, questioned the country’s commitment to tackling Taliban militancy. It furthered festering Pakistani anger towards the west after a NATO air stirke on a Pakistani border check post killed 24 soldiers.

It argued that some in Pakistan were playing a double game, quoting US intelligence officials as saying that they acted as America’s ally in public while secretly training and arming the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The decision to block BBC World News and other international news channels comes after a media uproar in Pakistan over a Nato air strike that killed 24 Pakistani troops near the Afghan border at the weekend.